AN: This story came
to me from a clip I saw on 'America's Funniest Videos'. Not as
funny as I would have liked, but it's passable. I hope you enjoy
this as much as I did coming up with it.

As Seeley Booth tumbled
end over end and onto the floor of Temperance Brennan's apartment,
his feet crashing into the wall and knocking down a picture, he
couldn't help but think for a moment what had gotten him into that
predicament. Oh that's right, he thought, I got myself here. As
he sat up and alternately rubbed his jaw and the back of his head, he
heard Brennan gasp.

"Oh god, Booth! I'm
so sorry." Booth shook the daze that had situated itself on his
brain from the sudden contact with the floor and looked up at
Temperance. She reached down to help him stand up then hit him hard
on the arm.

"Ow, what the hell
Bones?" Booth rubbed his arm and looked at her petulantly. "What
did I do to deserve that?"

"You scared the hell
out of me. What were you thinking?" Her heart was still pounding
from his sudden appearance from inside of a brightly wrapped box
sitting in the middle of her living room.

"I was thinking I'd
surprise you. I'm guessing by the violence of your reaction that
you were surprised."

"I'd say that's a
pretty good summation. If you wanted to surprise me by coming home
early, that's fine, but you didn't need to pop out of a giant box
to do it." Brennan put a hand to her chest and took in a deep
breath. Once she had the rapid tattoo of her heart back to normal,
she looked at Booth, a frown firmly in place.

"Well I…I thought
it would be cute, you know? I'm your gift and all that."

"That was not funny
Booth."

"Oh, I don't know,
the look on your face right before your fist collided with mine…
yeah, that's probably not helping, huh?" A shake of Brennan's
head confirmed that. He looked at her for a moment and ran his
fingers through his hair, the stiffness of the gel making it crackle
under his touch. Okay, so maybe he could have rethought this whole
thing.

"Seriously Booth,
what possessed you to pop out of a large wrapped box as soon as I
walked into my apartment?" Temperance looked at him sternly, her
arms crossed in front of her chest. Shame he wasn't naked in that
box, although it could have proved embarrassing if Angela had come
home with her like she'd been planning to.

Booth took in a deep
breath and reached into his jacket pocket. This was it; he was
finally going to do it. As his fingers grasped around, searching the
depths of his pocket, he began to frown. Where was it? Oh god, what
did he do with it? Seeley looked up at Temperance and opened his
mouth only to close it immediately.

"Well? I'm
waiting."

"I… damn it, where
is it?" Booth looked around the room frantically, his eyes
settling on the overturned box. It had to be in there.

"Booth?" She
watched him as he dove into the box and began tossing tissue paper
out of it, small bits of glitter flying into the air and settling as
if inside of a snow globe. "Is there any reason why you put tissue
paper in that box?" He popped his head from the box to look at
Temperance.

"It made it more
comfortable." He ducked back into the box and began throwing paper
out of it again. Brennan let out a small snort as she tried not to
laugh at the frantic looking Booth in the box. As he half fell out
of the box and began to look under her couch, his rear in the air,
she noticed a small glint on the floor by her fireplace. Curiously,
she reached down to pick it up as Booth crawled across the floor to
look under a nearby chair. "Oh god, oh god, oh god, where is it?"

"What are you looking
for Booth?" Brennan looked at the object in her hand, turning it
over carefully. The light in the room glinted off the diamonds,
sending small rainbows of light flickering around the room. She
scrutinized the piece of jewelry, turning it over and looking at the
gold band. Where on earth had the ring come from?

"It's… I can't
ask you with out it." He stood and went back over to the box,
kicking around the glittery tissue paper again. Suspicion filled her
as she looked from the ring and back to Booth crawling all over her
floor.

"Ask me what?"

"To marry me." He
muttered under his breath and did a sweep of the room again, tossing
pillows and colorful throws from the couch, a rainbow of orange and
red tumbling to the floor. Brennan looked at him with wide eyes,
clutching the ring in her hand. He wanted to marry her? He wanted
to make her his wife and possibly move to the suburbs and have 1.5
kids? Is that what he expected from her?

"That's why you hid
in a box in my apartment after coming home early to surprise me by
nearly giving me a heart attack?" Booth looked at her in
confusion, his hands on his hips.

"What about the
surprise?" Brennan looked at him in shock. Did he not just ask
her to marry him? Well from the look of confusion on his face he
didn't realize it. Brennan looked at the object in her hand and
contemplated the proposal. She'd always said she didn't want to
get married, that it was an antiquated ritual in which the woman was
asked to obey her husband, thereby hindering her own personal
freedom. It had never been something she considered before, and she
opened her mouth to express just that. Before she did however,
another thought came to her unbidden.

"I said no because
I was afraid that marriage would change who I was, and by the time I
realized that it wouldn't, it was too late." Those had been
Rebecca's words. Booth never sought to change Rebecca or herself
for that matter. He loved her for the person she was, not the person
he thought she should be. He knew how she felt about marriage, and
yet he was still asking her. As he stood there, slightly confused
over the conversation, she knew what her answer was going to be.

"Yes."

"What?"

"Yes, I will."

"Will what?"
Brennan opened up her hand, the ring once again glinting in the
light. It was Booth's turn to be stunned.

"Marry you. That is
what you asked right?"

"What? Yes! Wait,
really?"

"Yes, really." He
stared at her in awe for a moment before pulling her to him and
kissing her hard on the lips. When he pulled away from her, he took
the ring from her hand and turned it over in his own. Brennan
watched him and arched a brow at his behavior. "You didn't think
I was going to say yes, did you?"

"Well obviously I
hoped you would, but I was prepared for a no."

"And what would you
have done if I turned you down?"

"Probably hide in the
box and lick my wounds for a few days, although that might prove hard
as they're currently located over my eye and the back of my head."
Temperance shook her head and watched as he slipped the ring on the
third finger of her hand.

"It's a good thing
I like you then." As Booth leaned in to kiss her once more, she
pulled away from him and looked him in the eye. "Just promise me
one thing."

"Yeah, what's
that?"

"No more popping out
of boxes. The next time you do it, I can't be responsible for any
harm that comes to you." Booth gave her a slow, sexy grin that
always made her a little warm.

"Temperance?"

"Yes?"

"I love you." She
smiled at him and kissed the tip of his nose.

"I know."

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